A much-loved teenage girl who died at her Preston home did not intend to take her life, a coroner has ruled.
Nina Papierniok was found dead at her home last September in non-suspicious circumstances and a coroner has now ruled her death was not intentional.
An inquest into Nina’s death took place at Preston Coroners Court on Tuesday (16 June) and concluded that while the 13-year-old had a history of self-harming, she did not want to end her life.
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Nina, who attended Archbishop Temple Church of England High School and was also known to her family as Lucy, was described as a kind, helpful and open-hearted girl who was artistic and generally considered to be easygoing. The youngest of four siblings, she was very close to her family and had grown up without her dad who died shortly before she was born.
The hearing was attended by Nina’s mum Justyna, who was assisted by an interpreter, as well as sister Klaudia and one of her cousins.
Concluding the inquest, assistant coroner Sian Jones said: “This is a really, really sad case of the death of a young girl who was obviously well loved by her family which I understand is a large family both here and in Poland.
“The love of her and the support they tried to give her is very clear in the evidence I have.”
According to a family statement read out by Ms Jones, Nina found school to be difficult and had long-running struggles with issues relating to her own image of her body, with eating and with her self-esteem. Mental health difficulties were a problem before she had finished primary school and Nina had been known to self-harm from the age of 11.
Her unhappiness at school was not considered to be anything unusual for a child of her age and there were no increased concerns in the time leading up to her death even though she had spent two days in the Spring Room – effectively a form of isolation – after dying her hair pink which is against the school’s rules.
Giving evidence at the inquest, assistant headteacher and safeguarding lead Jessica Banner said the week ended with Nina speaking to her form tutor and the pair laughing and joking about her managing to last half a day before anyone noticed the hair colour. The teacher, Mrs McClean, had wished her a good weekend and said she would take her under her wing on Monday.
According to Mrs Banner, pupils dying their hair to unusual colours was not an unusual occurrence and Nina was not the only one to do this around this time. The school’s response was in line with its usual procedures and it was expected that a pupil would continue being moved to the Spring Room until they returned their hair back to its normal colour.
The following Monday, Nina was found dead in her bedroom by her family having inflicted a fatal injury on herself. Paramedics and police attended and it was quickly determined there were no suspicious circumstances or third-party involvement.
As such, the matter was referred to the coroner’s office and the inquest heard details of Nina’s mental health history which began in primary school and involved talking therapy which was deemed to have had a positive impact.
In 2024, evidence of self-harming had led to concerns from the school and referral to mental health teams but at no point did Nina express to anyone that she intended to take her life. Laura Sowerby, Time to Thrive programme manager at Barnardo’s, said her case would have been escalated to another service had she done so.
After her death, Nina’s phone, iPad and laptop were searched by police and the only item of relevance was a note in which she described an almost identical incident from February in which she had managed to bring herself back to safety.
Concluding the inquest, Ms Jones said she was satisfied that Nina’s family and the school had taken appropriate steps to access agencies and services to support her.
She said there had been no history of significant bullying and no major events in the days or weeks leading to her death, with both the school and Nina’s family considering her response to the punishment for her dyed hair as no more than “typical teenage annoyance”.
A verdict of misadventure was recorded.
